As is well known to those skilled in the art, middle distillate fuels typified by diesel oil, fuel oils, kerosene, etc may be burned to produce heat and/or power. It is common for such combustion processes to be characterized by production of undesirably large quantities of smoke due principally to incomplete combustion of hydrocarbon.
In the case of gasoline-burning engines, it may be possible to reduce smoke in the exhaust by use of 250-4000 ppm (0.25%-0.4%) of polyalkoxylated alkyl phenols wherein the molecule contains two or more alkoxy groups, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,295. See also U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,391.
It is an object of this invention to provide a middle distillate fuel characterized by the ability to burn with decreased production of exhaust smoke. Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.